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Thursday, January 7, 2016

Vatican City, 6 January 2015 (VIS) –
“The Magi represent the men and woman throughout the world who are
welcomed into the house of God. Before Jesus, all divisions of race,
language and culture disappear.” These were among the words spoken
by the Holy Father this morning in the homily of the Mass for the
Solemnity of Epiphany celebrated in the Vatican Basilica. Following
is the complete text of the Pope's homily, given after the Gospel
reading and the announcement that Easter will be celebrated on 27
March this year.

“The words of the Prophet Isaiah –
addressed to the Holy City of Jerusalem – are also meant for us.
They call us to go forth, to leave behind all that keeps us
self-enclosed, to go out from ourselves and to recognize the
splendour of the light which illumines our lives: 'Arise, shine; for
your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.'
That 'light' is the glory of the Lord. The Church cannot delude
herself into thinking that she shines with her own light. Saint
Ambrose expresses this nicely by presenting the moon as a metaphor
for the Church: 'The moon is in fact the Church… [she] shines not
with her own light, but with the light of Christ. She draws her
brightness from the Sun of Justice, and so she can say: “It is no
longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me”.' Christ is the true
light shining in the darkness. To the extent that the Church remains
anchored in him, to the extent that she lets herself be illumined by
him, she is able to bring light into the lives of individuals and
peoples. For this reason the Fathers of the Church saw in her the
'mysterium lunae'.”

“We need this light from on high if
we are to respond in a way worthy of the vocation we have received.
To proclaim the Gospel of Christ is not simply one option among many,
nor is it a profession. For the Church, to be missionary does not
mean to proselytize: for the Church to be missionary means to give
expression to her very nature, which is to receive God’s light and
then to reflect it. There is no other way. Mission is her vocation.
How many people look to us for this missionary commitment, because
they need Christ. They need to know the face of the Father.”

“The Magi mentioned in the Gospel of
Matthew are a living witness to the fact that the seeds of truth are
present everywhere, for they are the gift of the Creator, who calls
all people to acknowledge him as good and faithful Father. The Magi
represent the men and woman throughout the world who are welcomed
into the house of God. Before Jesus, all divisions of race, language
and culture disappear: in that Child, all humanity discovers its
unity. The Church has the task of seeing and showing ever more
clearly the desire for God which is present in the heart of every man
and woman. Like the Magi, countless people, in our own day, have a
'restless heart' which continues to seek without finding sure
answers. They too are looking for a star to show them the path to
Bethlehem.”

“How many stars there are in the
sky! And yet the Magi followed a new and different star, which for
them shone all the more brightly. They had long peered into the great
book of the heavens, seeking an answer to their questions, and at
long last the light appeared. That star changed them. It made them
leave their daily concerns behind and set out immediately on a
journey. They listened to a voice deep within, which led them to
follow that light. The star guided them, until they found the King of
the Jews in a humble dwelling in Bethlehem.”

“All this has something to say to us
today. We do well to repeat the question asked by the Magi: 'Where is
the child who has been born the King of the Jews? For we observed his
star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.' We are
impelled, especially in an age like our own, to seek the signs which
God offers us, realizing that great effort is needed to interpret
them and thus to understand his will. We are challenged to go to
Bethlehem, to find the Child and his Mother. Let us follow the light
which God offers us! The light which streams from the face of Christ,
full of mercy and fidelity. And once we have found him, let us
worship him with all our heart, and present him with our gifts: our
freedom, our understanding and our love. Let us recognize that true
wisdom lies concealed in the face of this Child. It is here, in the
simplicity of Bethlehem, that the life of the Church is summed up.
For here is the wellspring of that light which draws to itself every
individual and guides the journey of the peoples along the path of
peace.”

Vatican City, 6 January 2015 (VIS) –
At noon, after the Mass in St. Peter's Basilica for the Solemnity of
the Epiphany of the Lord, Pope Francis appeared at the window of his
study in the Apostolic Palace to pray the Angelus with the faithful
and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.

“In today's Gospel,” he began,
“the story of the Magi who came to Bethlehem from the East to adore
the Messiah confers upon the feast of Epiphany an air of
universality. This air is the breath of the Church, who desires all
the peoples of the earth to encounter Jesus and to experience his
merciful love. This is the Church's wish: that all may find Jesus'
mercy, his love. The new-born Christ does not yet know how to speak
and yet people of all the nations—represented
by the Magi—can already meet him, recognize him, worship him. The
Magi say: 'We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him
homage'.”

“...The Magi were prestigious men,
from distant lands and different cultures, and they had journeyed
toward Israel to worship the king who had been born. The Church has
always seen in them an image of all of humanity and, with today's
celebration of the Feast of Epiphany, it wants to respectfully show
every man and woman of this world the Child who was born for the
salvation of all. On Christmas Eve, Jesus revealed himself to
shepherds, humble and unappreciated men—some say robbers. They were
the first to bring a little warmth into that cold grotto in
Bethlehem. Now the Magi come from distant lands, also mysteriously
attracted by that Child. The shepherds and the Magi are very
different from one another but one thing unites them: the sky.”

“...The
shepherds and the Magi teach us that, to encounter Jesus, it is
necessary to know how to raise our gaze to the heavens, and not be
turned in on ourselves, on our own selfishness, but to have our
hearts and minds open to the horizon of God, which always surprises
us, and to know how to welcome its message and respond promptly and
generously. The Magi, the Gospel says, 'were
overjoyed at seeing the star'.
Even for us there is great consolation in seeing the star, namely in
feeling guided and not abandoned to our fate. The star is the Gospel,
the Word of the Lord that, as the psalm says, 'is a lamp for my feet,
a light for my path'. This light guides us towards Christ. Without
listening to the Gospel it is not possible to encounter him.”

“The
Magi,” he added, “following the star, came to the place where
Jesus was. And there 'they saw the child with Mary his mother. They
prostrated themselves and did him homage'. The experience of the Magi
urges us not to be content with mediocrity, not to 'just get along'
but to seek out the meaning of things, passionately scrutinizing the
great mystery of life. It teaches us not to be scandalized by
smallness and poverty, but to recognize the majesty of humility and
to know how to kneel before it. May the Virgin Mary, who welcomed the
Magi to Bethlehem, help us to lift our gaze from ourself and to be
guided by the star of the Gospel so that we might meet Jesus and know
how to humble ourselves in order to worship him. In that way we can
bring a ray of its light to others and share the joy of the journey
with them.”

Vatican City, 6 January 2015 (VIS) –
Following the Angelus, the Pope gave his customary greeting to the
numerous faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square. He
expressed his “spiritual nearness” to the brothers and sisters of
the Christian East, “many of whom celebrate the birth of the Lord
tomorrow.” He sent them a wish for peace and wellness.

He also mentioned that the 6th of
January marks the “World Day of Missionary Childhood”. “It is
the day for children,” he said, “who with their prayers and
sacrifices, help their contemporaries most in need, acting as
missionaries and witnesses of fraternity and solidarity”. At the
end of his remarks, he wished all a good feastday.

Vatican
City, 7 January 2016 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father
erected the apostolic exarchate for Syrian Catholics in Canada with
territory taken from the Eparchy of Our Lady of Deliverance of
Newark. The Holy Father appointed Fr. Antoine Nassif as first exarch
of the newly-erected apostolic exarchate. Bishop-elect Nassif was
born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1969 and ordained for the Syrian Catholic
patriarchal eparchy in 1992. After ordination he served in various
roles including: principal of the school of Charfet, Lebanon;
vice-pastor in two parishes; and, most recently, as rector of the
Patriarchal Major Seminary of Charfet. He speaks French, English, and
Italian.